Executive Summary

The main intention of the report is to discuss the impact of social influences on the consumer purchase decision making process. The natural supplements marketed by Bellamy’s was taken to understand the above phenomena. In any market social factors such as culture, subculture, social class, reference group, etc. largely shape the consumers decision to buy or not to buy a particular product. Therefore, marketers should clearly understand the impact of each of the above social dimensions with respect to their product range. All the marketing programmes and strategies need to be planned accordingly by paying an especial attention to the each social influence. Having identified the strategic importance of the idea, this report intends to examine different theoretical models and concepts which can be used to evaluate the impact of social influences on the consumer purchase decision process.
Culture and reference group influence have been taken as the two key social variables for the discussion. Secondary sources such as books, journal articles, web articles, have been used to understand the main idea behind the concepts. After identifying the key concepts and its influence towards the purchase decision making process, key applications were discussed with respect to the product chosen. Finally, recommendations were made to further improve the marketing efforts of the company.

1.0 Introduction
This report intends to explain how social influences impact the purchase decision of organic infant formula marketed by Bellamy’s Australia Limited. The report will specifically examines how the culture and reference groups affect the purchase decision making process of their consumers. A brief introduction to the company, products and consumers is given below.

1.1 Company
In 2004, Bellamy’s was first introduced by a Tasmanian family as a nutritious natural supplement for kids. The company offers a wide range of natural supplements for infants, babies and youthful kids.

1.2 Product
The company has a wide range of natural supplements. Today, they have more than 30 items in their portfolio which can be used from birth to early adolescence.

1.3 Consumer
Bellamy’s prime target consumers are the parents of newly born children. When it comes to a detailed profiling, the company caters to both low and high social class families with an effective pricing strategy. Consumers are highly health conscious and extremely concerned about the product quality. Geographically, the company caters for Australia and other export markets such as China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and New Zealand (Bellamy's Organic, 2016). The following image describes the prime target consumers of Bellamy’s.